Sunday, November 20, 2005

DIY Vanilla Extract

This is a great DIY gift that's fairly inexpensive and also really easy, and it’s something the kids can make all on their
own for lucky teachers and grandparents. (If you happen to be a teacher or
grandparent of anyone in my house, please practice feigning surprise thus:
“Ooh, vanilla! How lovely!”) Plus, homemade vanilla extract is significantly
more festive than the equally thrifty idea I had of handing everyone a bag of
grubby turnips with a red velvet bow tied around it. Merry Christmas!

So easy, your kid can make it in his bathrobe!

If you already have vodka and a computer, you can make the
extract a week from now without ever leaving your home! That’s right—the
supplies can be ordered online, and then you will need to wait a few days for
them to arrive, sitting around in your bathrobe and tasting the vodka every now
and then to make sure it hasn’t gone off. And later the vanilla can be put up
to steep in the dark somewhere while you kick back with the remainder of the
vodka—or, and I’m not actually recommending this, while you pour a little
splash of vanilla-scented vodka out of the extract bottles and into your
eggnog; if you pour a teaspoon or two equally from each of the bottles, your
children will never even miss it.

Would it have been cheating to start with vanilla vodka? Because I considered it. But then Michael said, "I know! Why not just start with vanilla extract?" Oh.

However, if you’re in a rush, then the supplies can likely
be found at stores nearby (plus, it’s the winter, so you can shop happily
braless beneath your down jacket and nobody will even know, unless you run into
a friend who invites you back to her house for cocoa, which you’ll sip
awkwardly with your arms crossed in front of your chest). The problem with
buying ingredients locally is that the vanilla may become prohibitively
expensive to make, since a single pair of vanilla beans goes for something like
$10 at Whole Foods. Buy them in bulk online. I bought mine from the ebay seller “organic-vanilla,” who
sells 21 beans for $9.75 (free shipping), here. And I got my bottles from the
ebay seller “candlechem,” who sells 12 4-ounce glass bottles for $12.95 ($12.52 shipping), here.

This is the moment when I must confess that I have always heard the expression
“Bourbon Vanilla,” and so used to make vanilla extract with Jack Daniels. Don’t
get me wrong—it’s delicious. But it turns out that “bourbon” all along referred
to a particular kind of vanilla, and not to my favorite sour mash whiskey! Aha!
And so now I make it with vodka.

The vanilla will, ideally, steep for a month—it gets
stronger the longer it sits—but don’t be put off at all by the timing: you
could simply put a little tag on each bottle with a date of first use; or you
could do what the kids and I are doing, which is to use paint chips for labels,
and tell the recipients to wait until the vanilla is the darkest shade on the
chip before using it. Plus, paint chips may just be the world’s greatest
freebies.

And if this whole vanilla thing isn’t your cup of tea, you
could always make Salted Caramel Popcorn. Make it anyways, in fact, because it
is so insanely good and your kids will love you for ever and ever, and if they
can ever stop joking about how the ballet should really be called “The
Buttcracker,” they might even tell you this themselves. Ipackaged the popcorn in plastic bags inside
new, empty gallon-sized paint cans (I got mine for $3 each at the hardware
store). I was thinking of sticking a mailing label right on the can and
shipping it that way. Does anybody know if that will work?

Vanilla Extract

active time: 10 minutes; steeping time: 1 month

For each 4-ounce bottle of vanilla extract, you will need 2
or 3 vanilla beans (we used 2 ½ beans per bottle) and ½ cup of vodka. Give your
kids a clean pair of scissors, and have them cut each vanilla bean in half
lengthwise and then again crosswise, and stuff all the pieces into the bottle.
Now they can use a funnel to pour the vodka in. This is easiest to do if you
have first measured it into a small, spouted measuring cup, which is why I like
to have Ben pour it straight from the ginormous vodka jug so that every single
bottle fills up and spills over because it’s like filling a thimble with a
hose. Oh well.

If your children are very particular about which bottles
they personally filled, then you can mark the lids with tape, like I had to.
Otherwise, just be nice and regular and communal about the whole thing. Settle
your vanilla in a nice darkish spot, and leave it for as long as you can,
shaking it when you think to. When you’re ready to give it, attach labeled
paint chips with clear packing tape, and tie on a festive ribbon. And wouldn’t
it be nice to give with it your favorite vanilla-flavored recipe? Oooh, that’s
a good idea.

Catherine, I don't know if you check comments on older blogs, but I was looking at this one today since I wanted to make vanilla extract and remembered you'd written about it- but anyway, my point is the link for the salted caramel popcorn is for a recipe over at Babble which is decidedly NOT your recipe (make in microwave, use candy corn, etc). No biggie, just fyi.